08 September 2014

One Fine Cowboy

Synopsis
from Goodreads: HIS
HEART IS AS WILD AS THE HORSES HE TRAINED...

Nate
Shawcross is perfectly content to spend his days training wild
horses. So when a beautiful greenhorn unexpectedly shows up for a
seminar from the famous "Horse Whisperer" of Wyoming, all
Nate wants to do is send her packing...

THE
LAST THING SHE EXPECTS IS A LESSON IN ROMANCE...

Graduate
student Charlie Banks came to the ranch to learn about horse
communication, but when she meets the ruggedly handsome cowboy, she
starts to fantasize about another connection entirely...

Nate
needs to stay focused if he's going to save his ranch from
foreclosure, but he can't help being distracted by the brainy and
breathtakingly sexy Charlie. Could it be that after all this time
Nate has finally found the one woman who can tame his wild heart?

Stats
for my copy:
Hardback, published by Sourcebooks Casablanca, 2010.

How
acquired:
Bought.

First
line:
The cowboy boot was the most pathetic piece of footwear Charlie had
ever seen.

My
thoughts: I
wasn't sure I would like Charlie at first. She's a Jersey girl who
refers to cowboys as “stupid cowboys”. She's a vegetarian animal
rights activist, who doesn't believe in riding horses - “It's
morally wrong, forcing animals to serve us.” She's a grad student,
and has been sent to this ranch in the wilds of Wyoming to attend a
clinic for the purpose of “assessing the parallels between the
training techniques of Western livestock managers and the nonverbal
cues with which humans communicate their wants and needs.” Or as
Charlie sums it up, “harassing innocent animals with a bunch of
cowboys”. I love animals, and I'm all for animal rights, but I
don't support PETA and their over the top, at times bullying methods
of grabbing headlines. And Charlie sounded like a card carrying
member. She's even participated in PETA protests.

Nate
doesn't quite know what to make of her either. Especially when she
tells him she's here to attend one of his clinics. Because he has no
idea what she's talking about. Seems his ex-girlfriend flew the coop
recently, cleaning out his bank account, but not before printing up a
bunch of brochures and collecting four deposits for his non-existent
clinic services. But Charlie's car has broken down, and she has no
way to leave. Plus her boss would expect her to bring that deposit
back with her, which neither she nor Nate have. So the shy, quiet
cowboy is forced to come up with a lesson plan and carry on with the
promises made in the brochure.

Once
Nate introduces Charlie to a couple of horses, and she sees his
training techniques in action, she chills out with the abuse
accusations and becomes quite enamored with one stallion in
particular, and of course, despite her disdain for cowboys, with Nate
himself. And I did like her quite well after all. The other three
students trickle in one by one, and each individual was quite a
character in their own right, though not necessarily who or what they
seemed to be upon first meeting them.

When
the ex-girlfriend puts in an appearance, things get tense and
skewered. Nate is the strong sensitive type. He gets tongue tied very
easily and struggles to form a coherent sentence, though the
smoldering looks he aims Charlie's way speak loud and clear. With the
horses he's much more confident of himself, hence his reputation as a
“horse whisperer”. I got a little frustrated with him when the ex
came back and began taking over his life again, and he let her bully
him without standing up to her. But he's a good guy, coming to
realize what a crappy relationship they've had, and seeing through
Charlie what a real relationship could be like.

My
only real beef were some inconsistencies that pulled me out of the
story. In one scene, Nate is having trouble sleeping, tossing and
turning as he tries to get comfortable on the sofa. “All he could
think about was that morning he'd woken up on this same sofa with
Charlie in his arms, tucked against him.” Yet on the next page: “He
swung his feet to the floor and levered himself out of bed...He
shuffled quietly across the bedroom...” When did he get from the
sofa to the bedroom? And then later, he and Charlie are riding
together on a horse, him sitting in front of her: “Nate leaned back
against her, his broad back warm against her chest.” But a few
paragraphs later, while they are still riding: “He kissed the back
of her neck.” How the hell did he kiss the back of her neck from in
front of her?

There's
a bit of humor, some nice descriptions of the Wyoming countryside, a
locked attic hiding secrets, some twists and turns in the storyline,
and a lot of heart as Nate and Charlie dance around each other,
fighting, then being friends, getting closer, then blowing up at each
other. Not quite as good as COWBOY TROUBLE, the only other Kennedy
book I've read so far, but very enjoyable.

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